Derek Hannon

"We are not seeing 90 percent of people going to Mass on Sundays as they did in the past. Perhaps what we are seeing today is a more honest representation of peoples' true faith. I think maybe a lot of it in the past was social convention."

"Even if we were to be able to cancel St Patrick's Day in Ireland, which of course is ridiculous, and we never would, it would still continue around the world."

"The EU sees the Holy See as a promoter of justice in the world and a defender of human rights. My sense is that the Holy See views the EU as a zone of stability and as a stabilising force in an increasingly fractured international landscape."